The present invention relates to an air compressor, and particularly relates to an air compressor that is mounted on a tank.
An air compressor may be used to provide a hand-held tool with pneumatic power. The compressor is part of an apparatus that further includes a motor for driving the compressor and a tank for storing compressed air. A drive assembly operatively interconnects the motor with the compressor, and is mounted on the tank with the motor and the compressor. The drive assembly may include a pulley, a flywheel, and a linkage structure that cooperate to reciprocate a piston within the compressor upon rotation of an output shaft at the motor. The reciprocating piston pumps compressed air into the tank. A pneumatic power hose extends from the tank to the pneumatically powered tool. In some cases the tank is provided with wheels and a handle so that the entire apparatus is portable.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus comprises a tank, an air compressor, and a motor with an output shaft. A fan is mounted on the output shaft. A drive assembly interconnects the motor operatively with the compressor. The apparatus further includes a base structure and a shroud. The base structure is configured to support the compressor, the motor and the drive assembly on the tank. The shroud is configured to cover the compressor, the motor, the drive assembly and the base structure on the tank.
The shroud has a cooling air inlet port and a cooling air outlet port. A plurality of internal wall portions of the shroud configured to direct cooling air to flow over the motor and the compressor upon flowing through the cover from the inlet port to the outlet port under the influence of the fan.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the output shaft has a first axis, and the compressor contains a piston supported for reciprocation along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. The internal wall portions of the shroud are configured to define an L-shaped flow path extending between the inlet and outlet ports along the first and second axes.